Club Confirm Hunt For New Investment

02 August 2023
By Hob Nob Anyone?

Reading FC have today issued a short statement to acknowledge the on-going financial issues at the club and confirm they are looking for new investment to continue to operate. The same statement says that current club owner Dai Yongge is "fully committed to the club". It's not clear if Dai Yongge is looking to move the club on or looking for someone to share the burden as the club struggle to clear their debts.

The club are currently back under a transfer embargo, enforced by the EFL after another failure to pay money owed to HMRC. The new embargo was imposed at the end of last week, but the club are looking to settle the debt "in the coming days" to lift the embargo to enable paid for incoming transfers as the new season gets underway.

The Royals currently have the thinest first team squad in League One with the season kicking off on Saturday as Peterborough United visit the Select Car Leasing Stadium. Despite a huge number of players departing during the summer, the Royals have only added four new senior players with Charlie Savage signing last week from Manchester United, following Lewis Wing, Sam Smith and Harvey Knibbs into the club.

Official club statement:

Reading Football Club can confirm that it is currently in the process of seeking investment to provide significant financial support to the business.

Our owner Mr Dai Yongge remains fully committed to the club and both he and Chief Executive Dayong Pang have been extremely active in recent weeks in trying to establish a sustainable source of financial backing for the football club going forward.

Despite ongoing complex cashflow constraints - related in part to the intense and protracted effects of the global pandemic which continue to impact business in China - the full wage bill has been satisfied for both players and staff at the end of the month and a late payment to HMRC - which temporarily placed the club back under a strict embargo at the end of last week - is due to be personally resolved by Mr Dai in the coming days.

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